Last Refuge: Interlude
by navnit
Summary: This is an interlude for chapter nine of my story Last Refuge. Where Harry goes with Hela to visit Helheim. This is not meant to be read as a stand alone.


Harry had barely closed his eyes when he felt himself awaken. It was as if the darkness was pressing over him but he did not feel suffocated. It actually felt quite nice, as if he could chose to fall away in blissful ignorance and forget about the world and his place in it. It was a very familiar feeling.

She was here.

His eyes fell open and rolled his head to his left to see the beautiful angelic Hela lying next to him with her head resting on his arm.

"Hela?" he asked curious as to her presence.

"It is midnight, the moment at which Midgards moon is high in the sky. I said I would come. It is time for your visit my Master."

He swallowed as she turned her head to brush her lips against his shoulder, and he felt himself let go. A primal need filled him as he rolled over her covering her slight body with his own. He claimed her ice cold lips with his warm ones. For once she was here and he wasn't too weak to do anything about it.

Hela moaned into his mouth and arched up her body to make even more contact with his naked torso. He shadow cloak parted and he felt more of her skin on his than ever before. He was impossibly aroused an all he wanted to do was touch her and feel her.

"Yes," Hela let out in a guttural moan. "More, please Master!"

And it was like a sudden flash of reason flared in his head. He pulled back from her lifting himself up on his arms as he observed her in an abandon state. How beautiful and yet how forbidden. He had nearly made a grave mistake.

He could see in Hela's eyes the same thought process running through his head, so when he rolled off her he noticed she didn't feel at all surprised by the act. If a little exasperated.

As he tried to find a reason for his behaving like an overexcited teenager. Hela gathered he cloak around her self and allowed it to carry her to the edge of the bed, where she stepped onto the floor and rounded around to his side.

Holding out a hand she whispered. "Ready to go?"

Harry blinked and looked up at her in surprise.

She didn't roll her eyes but it was a close thing. "Your hang ups are valid, if you look at it one dimensionally. I have been trying to convince you of this for years. Lucky for us we have an eternity. Come master, Helheim awaits."

Harry rested his hand on hers and there was a sudden blanket of darkness, when it cleared they were suddenly floating.

"Welcome to Helheim, Master," said a voice next to him and he turned to see Hela floating with him. They were looking at the vast emptiness of space but even as he watched a glimmer seemed to shine in the distance then suddenly there was land.

Land for miles disappearing into the horizon blanketed by the stars and illuminated by something other than the sun. Maybe magic? It was beautiful plains of natural grass that wasn't quite earth green but similar to earth's vegetation. There were vast plains of this grass which gave way to oases. Crystal clear blue water flowed over from streams into wide rivers that seemed to flow directly off the edge of the world.

As his feet hit the ground the grass seemed to turn greener, the water more clear than blue and far off into the distance he could see buildings? A settlement?

"What do you see?" asked Hela her whisper carrying over to him despite the apparent open area.

"Heaven?" he asked her, only half sure.

"To you," she replied coming up beside him and taking his hand. "Helheim isn't a realm where your soul resides forever. It is instead a place for rest. You can choose to remain, of course but very few do. Eventually when you are ready, your soul will be allowed to move on, be reincarnated or in your special case; be sent back."

Harry blinked. That vision of Dumbledore meeting him at Kings Cross? And as he thought it the planes vanished and a white mist filled Kings Cross Station appeared.

"I have always wondered why did I go to Kings Cross to pass on?"

Hela smiled. "Your idea of peace and tranquility was limited during that point of your sheltered life, the train station represented a transition, it was symbol to what you thought to be freedom from your life as an unwanted freak," the words were said matter of factly not with malevolence or anguish. "The station represented your entry into a world where you were loved and an exit into a world where you were hated. Your subconscious decided to represent your final choice using that idea."

Harry nodded appreciating Hela's aplomb at the mention of his relatives, indeed as far as terrible relatives go, he thought Hela had him beat.

Choosing to change the subject he posed another question to his goddess.

"So when is a soul ready to pass on?" he asked curiously.

"When they are ready." At his questioning look she continued. "Your life as whole is not under review here. It is not your deeds that decide your fate in Helheim but your remorse. Remember how your old foe had no remorse for his actions? He even tried to hide from me, the feeble mortal. Well he is suffering as are others like him on the far side of Helheim."

"You mean fiery pits of hell? Pitchforks and chains?"

Hela threw her head back and laughed, it was a beautiful tinkling laugh that lifted Harry's spirits and his own lips pulled back to grin at her.

"Oh you mortals come up with so many base theories about the after life," she smiled and he actually saw the grass around her sprout flowers at her happiness, guess he had an over active imagination. She placed a hand on his chest and caught her breath. "Pitchforks and chains? Master he one thing mortals cannot comprehend is the fact that there are far worse things than pain."

Harry nodded well aware of that fact since his life experiences made pain seem like an old friend half the time.

"If it's not that, then what?"

Hela smirked and her demeanor shifted the last vestiges of laughter left her face.

"It is upon the sinner that the punishment is decided. When a mortal walks into Helheim for the first time they or their soul is granted an audience with me. As their literal soul is laid bare it is my duty to decide just punishment for what they have wrought within their living days.

"People who deserve punishment in Helheim are usually guilty of some of the most heinous crimes." Her expression turned ugly as she recalled some of them. "Most of them commit these atrocities knowingly and they usually have an immense need to satisfy their urges. My punishment for them is to take that which they so coveted during their living days and keep it within reach of them while never satisfying their hunger for it.

"For your Voldermort, or Riddle, as we know him. He wanted the power to cheat death. That was his ultimate goal. To not pass Helheim. He sought to do that by ripping his soul apart not once, not twice but an appalling seven times! Without remorse his soul will not mend therefore he witnesses his triumph over you and me in his dreams every day but when he wakes up he is as always stuck down there," she pointed straight down. "In the darkness of Helheim where there is no escape."

Harry looked down at the ground she had pointed at and frowned. He was at a loss as to how to feel about this. The man had killed his parents and countless others, he had tortured and killed his way through the good people of wizard and muggle world alike. But he had never been a vindictive person. In the moment he would rise to anger and yes he had held a lot of contempt for the man but ten years ago, with that piece of his soul he had discarded his anger and hate for Voldermort. He had even pleaded for the man to feel remorse so that he could be saved.

Now hearing about his fate made him feel a little empty inside. A hand settled on his cheek and he raised his eyes to meet a concerned pair of ice blue ones.

"Do not fret my master. It is but what he deserves. He is a man full of anger and hate and his hatred spilled across the mortal world. His crimes must be punished."

Harry nodded understanding but not liking. Wanting to get off this topic he asked another question.

"So you basically run the afterlife?" he asked injecting some humor into his voice just to get her off the melancholic mood.

It worked as her mouth quirked up into a smile. "Not quite so. Helheim existed well before me and it will exist well after my time. The thing with an entity like Hel is that it does not have a morality. It sees things in black and white. To leave it to itself as my predecessor chose to do and people with the crime of the smallest degree could face the most difficult punishments.

When my Aunt was named Godess of Death she merely delagted her responsibilities and decided to personally add to Helheims population tenfold. My father and uncle do not know this of her but she was a ruthless and vicious woman who glorified in battle and thirsted for the blood of her enemies.

"In her charge all that she killed faced even more mental anguish when they should have passed on to Valhalla because they died in battle. When even Odin realised what his daughter was wroughting over the nine realms, the destruction she was causing not just to the living but to the dead as well, he used Dark Magic to bind her and hide her away.

"But Odin did not appoint a new Goddess. He chose to let Helheim run on its own for almost a millennium until I came along. Father named me after my Aunt who he had grown hearing glorious stories about from Odin, the liar. But I was not given control of Helheim until my banishment.

"You see Odin wished to see me dead, I was the very living reminder of his daughter and I was prophecised to be a part of his fall. He sent my brothers of to other parts of the world but me he sent deliberately to Helheim, hoping I am sure that my soul would pass on as my mortal body failed me.

"But Helheim recognised me as relation to its previous Goddess and offered me sanctuary. Over time I learned how Helheim operated and saw the injustice being done to trivial sinners. I asked Hel to allow me to continue my duties as descendent of Hela. Despite my father being adopted Hel agreed. And I became the Godess of Death.

"So, Helheim is sentient?" he asked looking around at the green landscape.

"All the realms are," she agreed leading him towards the far off settlements. "some are more active then the others like Helheim and Svartalheim but most can feel and function as a living being. Your Midgard more than others is very organic."

At his raised eyebrows she explained. "It moves on its own? It shifts and shakes occasionally? It has an outer tough layer with hot liquid running beneath its surface? Midgard is more of an organism than any of the other realms, Master."

Harry thought about this for a moment and couldn't help but agree.

"Okay, so since it is sentient, it decided to make you it's goddess?"

"It decided to grant me the position of Goddess," she elaborated and suddenly the far off settlements seemed a lot closer. "It was filled in by my aunt, irresponsibly but still filled. After her imprisonment it was vacant till I came along and the realm chose me as its guardian."

"And you chose me as your Master." he said softly.

She smiled and shook her head. "It was fate that chose you as my Master."

"You believe in that? Fate?"

"Believe? There nothing to believe, Fate exists and has its own governance. It writes our Fate not our Destiny, Master. You were dealt a hand in your youth that required the ultimate sacrifice. That was Fate. You chose to go into that forest, you chose to face Riddle. That was a destiny of your own choosing."

Harry could feel her pride for him radiating from her and he averted his gaze.

"There was no choice."

"To you, my Master. Maybe. But I would think you would find very few people prepared to do the same even to save the world."

Harry didn't say anything to that and Hela didn't feel the need to prod him, so she took his hand and led him into what now looked like a small village. He instinctively knew that this was not part of his mindscape it was Hela's home.

Walking up the path to one of the larger homes the first thing he saw was...

"Loki?" he asked the man sitting on the verandah.

"Hello father," smiled Hela. "I hope you have settled in well."

Loki nodded and smiled back. "As well as I can daughter," he replied turning his eyes on Harry. "Wizard, I would like to thank you for allowing me to meet with my daughter. You have unknowingly done the greatest kindness towards me than anyone ever has. And for that I am in your debt."

"Thanks, I guess," answered Harry a little confused. A tugging of his hand forced him to keep moving.

"Come along, Master. We should let my father settle in."

Harry complied even if he was kind of uncomfortable of an unstable homicidal God settling in near him.

"My father had been delegated a task that will make him face his actions and its consequences, I do not wish him pain nor do I wish him to change himself from what he is. But I need him to learn a little humility to bring out the caring person that is hidden behind his lies and deceit."

"What will you have him do?" he asked at they reached the last house and walked around it.

"For a long time the position of ferryman had been vacant. Someone to guide souls from death and into the afterlife. He will be tasked with this job for a time, starting with the people he is responsible for killing on Midgard."

Harry would have responded if he hadn't just been caught unawares by the sight in front of him. Here in the back yard of the largest house in the settlement, the earth below his feet fell away to a view of what looked like the entire Galaxy in front of him.

It was a colourful array of lights that shone through as he watched the planets and solar systems spin around a dark center.

"Is this...?" he trailed off not even knowing how to pose the question.

"Yggdrasil, or as you mortals call it; The Milky Way?" she asked rhetorically. "It is our known Galaxy and it includes a whole lot more than the nine worlds that my people know.

He could see it. Moving around the centre were world's; some a single planets like Svartelheim some with entire solar systems like earth and others that stood on their own not moving, like Asgard which Harry could see, stood far below the rotating celestial bodies.

This seemed to be the case for Helheim too since he was observing from a fixed point above the Galaxy.

"Its beautiful," he gasped unable to take his eyes off the vision.

"It is," Hela agreed. "It is also something that the Titan threatens to destroy."

"Thanos?" asked Harry surprised at her mention of him.

"Thanos's hate and anger will flow through Helheim. He is already responsible for so many unseen deaths, so many lost souls that travel in Helheim not finding reprieve because they were taken before their time."

There was fire in her voice as she turned from him to stare at Yggdrasil.

"So much pain I have witnessed because of him."

"Hela," said Harry. "What are you saying?"

She turned back to him her eyes dark nearly as dark as when Thor had challenged her.

"When it is time, Hel will join you on the Battlefield and along with all the souls that Thanos has wronged."


End file.
